unable to delete file - rm: cannot remove Input/output error

Question

Some file is in my NTFS file system which I can't delete. It's giving this error:

rm: cannot remove `zigBqC04': Input/output error

Any other files also could not be copied in that folder and showing error message as:

Error opening file 'file-path': Input/output error

Any solution.

I don't have enough rep to post an answer, but I had this error on WSL. Shut down and restart WSL with wsl --shutdown; wsl, then delete the files. — mbomb007, Sep 07 '22 at 15:05

score 54 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 14 '22 at 01:12

54

I had the same issue, and I wanted to delete the directory. So I tried to use rm -rf XXX and also Shift + Delete to remove but both failed because of the same error.

I was able to delete the directory by right clicking the directory, choosing Move to Trash and then Empty Trash.

edited Sep 14 '22 at 01:12

Esther

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answered Feb 22 '19 at 07:04

Bowen Xu

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Thanks, worked for me too. Looks like this sort of delete only deletes the information of the directory from the partition table and rm tries to delete by overwriting the sectors – parthagar Nov 28 '19 at 11:44
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worked for me too. such a odd solution!!! :) – parsa2820 Dec 17 '19 at 20:07
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Yeah, I'd like to know why this workaround is working also... – ThePhi Feb 15 '20 at 11:37
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not working in my case – cipricus Apr 07 '20 at 12:52
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item was moved to trash, but cannot empty the trash... – PatrickT May 26 '20 at 07:43
You sir are gnius https://i.imgflip.com/v0su9.jpg – nirala Apr 02 '21 at 22:47
Shift + Delete did the trick, where rm -rf filename failed. Thank you. – darksoulsong Aug 23 '21 at 22:13
Worked on UDF formated USB stick – ucsky Jul 16 '23 at 05:13

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 28 '13 at 10:03

15

Looks like the filesystem has some errors on it. Do full scandisk /checkdisk from windows. (scan disk for errors)

answered Jul 28 '13 at 10:03

staticd

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That's probably the best one can do without damaging the proprietary filesystem or replacing the filesystem. – LiveWireBT Jul 28 '13 at 10:30
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@staticd As of 2019, is this still the best solution? I'm using the latest version of KDE, and am more interested in a *buntu specific solution. – Sarah Szabo Jan 04 '19 at 07:58
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'scandisk' is not recognized as internal or external command, operable program or batch file did you mean CHKDSK perhaps? – Klesun Dec 18 '19 at 12:52
Windows checkdisk has the bad habit of deleting/hiding files and folders that seem erroneous in Windows but not in Linux – cipricus Apr 07 '20 at 12:51

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 18 '18 at 04:55

A workaround that thankfully worked for me was to plug the drive into a Windows system and delete the offending files and folders using Shift + Delete (immediate delete without Recycle Bin).

After that, the issue seemed to be resolved when the drive was returned to Ubuntu.

Lajos · Answer 4 · 2021-10-27T10:11:25.433

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I'm on PopOS. It happened to me when I unplugged the external disk before letting the OS flush. I could fix this issue by opening the GUI file manager -> right-click -> delete the parent folder. This time GUI was smarter.

edited Oct 27 '21 at 10:11

answered Oct 26 '21 at 21:22

Lajos

121

Pop OS, you say? – ThunderBird Oct 27 '21 at 01:24
yep, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop!_OS – Lajos Oct 27 '21 at 10:10
this works in ubuntu 20.04 too – kampung-tech Dec 31 '23 at 10:34

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 03 '17 at 18:13

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If it is an NTFS or FAT file system and you don't have access to Windows just copy the files that you want to keep from the USB drive onto your hard drive. Then format the USB drive again using GPARTED or similar partition manager to NTFS or FAT. Followed by copying all the files back onto the USB drive. Worked for me.

answered Sep 03 '17 at 18:13

Jacques MALAPRADE

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Doesn't work if the external drive is way bigger than any other drive I've got. – Pavel Komarov Jul 01 '21 at 04:53

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 27 '13 at 16:03

0

may need to be logged in a root to do this. If so, type:

sudo su

in to Terminal and navigate with terminal to where zigBqC04 is and rm <filename> to remove files or rmdir <dir> to delete folders replace <---> with the file or folder name. Wild cards ( & ?) can be used.*

answered Jul 27 '13 at 16:03

Simon

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I also tried as a root but still can't. – unknown_boundaries Jul 27 '13 at 17:20

unable to delete file - rm: cannot remove Input/output error

6 Answers6